The Superior Allium

Shallot be necessary to point out that the pun below works better with the British pronunciation?
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I absolutely love leeks…!! Potato leek soup is the most obvious, and i love the recipe my mom has for it (although i have to modify considerably since i can’t have that much dairy) but what really was a game changer for me was when i learned of leeks vinegrette. First time was reading this post from Orangette- although she was just posting about what is common knowledge in france. I made it the very next day and have made it many times since although for garnish i just do some chopped toasted walnuts.

However, in my day to day i keep scallions, white/yellow onions and garlic from CA on hand. I know there are people who are allergic to onions/garlic etc and I just can’t fathom how i would manage without them.

Nothing beats the lowly onion for versatility, availability, variety and shelf life.

I currently have yellow, sweet, white, red, green onions in the windowsill and garlic chives out back.

Vital.

Vital I tells ya’.

Interesting that those leeks have almost no white. I have only used them in soups and braises and always buy the ones with the most white, at least 7 inches or so. I only recently learned that you can use some of the green when doing long cooks and last week used the very green ends in stock. How much of the green do people use when making a soup? (outside the use for stock)

when buying leeks, I choose the ones with the most white also. I use the white part for braising in evoo and butter. I do not throw away the green part, I do use it for stocks together with onions, garlic or whatever vegetables or herbs available on hand .

I like the green part in seafood stock, but not chicken stock or beef stock. I don’t know why.

I love the greens just as much as the whites. I use them in stirfry, mapo tofu or any roasted/braised prep. They take a little longer to tenderize than the whites but once they do, they are just as delicious!

The proportion of the white to green, the white are the part under the soil or does not have contact with sun, the green part under the sun.

Those shown in trockwood’s link, the leeks look young. You can eat the whole leek.

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For soup i use only the white and palest green portion. The top tough fiberous portion i freeze and save for stock or have used chopped well in a very long braised dish
This is actually my mom’s potato leek soup recipe which she just rewrote. I add a big splash of wine and use veg stock. When making for myself i use a thinned cashew cream as the dairy. I love that the card is old and worn and stained from so many happy meals.

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I love that she crossed out “lentil” and corrected it to “leek”!

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The question is. When do you toss out the yellow onion for the white one. Or vice versa ?. The purple is always on its own.

I use yellow onions as my standard. To me they’re less heat and more flavor than white.

Vidalia (aka Walla Walla) are good where their sweetness and lack of heat are desirable.

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When I get good Vidalias in season, I will eat them raw, a couple slices sandwiched between two slices of bread, with mayo and a thick heirloom tomato slice. It’s the only onion I like raw without acidifying or salting it.

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Have you ever had Vidalia Onion Pie or tomato pie? Both are to die for – quiches by any other name, but oh so good.

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I seem to love onions any way, and I actually do really like some very thin red onion here and there but yes the sweet onions are really wonderful. Your sandwich sounds fantastic! I will have to make one for myself

When I was little and we’d take road trips, Mom would usually bring the fixings for pita sandwiches: cream cheese, Walla Walla onions, and alfalfa sprouts. It’s something I still crave but I rarely find Walla Wallas in stores in SoCal.

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At the moment. I’m into slicing the onions thin. Then placing them into a mixture of salt sugar and vinegar. Pickling them for about an hour. And serving them as a side.

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Tomato pie, yes. The one I get here is made with caramelized onions. The woman who sells them wins first place at the county fair.

Will have to find out about Vidalia pie. Never had one.

I see them at Sprouts in the summertime…

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I need to get to Sprouts more often - Thank you!

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